|
heart
/ hearts related
links
|
When the LORD saw how great was man's wickedness on earth, and
how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil,
he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart
was grieved. [GEN 6:5-6]
When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself:
"Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the
desires of man's heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever
again strike down all living beings, as I have done." [GEN 8:21]
Now Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to
discuss the matter with Jacob, just as Jacob's sons were coming in
from the fields. When they heard the news, the men were shocked
and seethed with indignation. What Shechem had done was an outrage
in Israel; such a thing could not be tolerated. Hamor appealed to
them, saying: "My son Shechem has his heart set on your
daughter. Please give her to him in marriage. Intermarry with us;
give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
Thus you can live among us. The land is open before you; you can
settle and move about freely in it, and acquire landed property
here." Then Shechem, too, appealed to Dinah's father and
brothers: "Do me this favor, and I will pay whatever you
demand of me. No matter how high you set the bridal price, I will
pay you whatever you ask; only give me the maiden in
marriage." Jacob's sons replied to Shechem and his father
Hamor with guile, speaking as they did because their sister Dinah
had been defiled. [GEN 34:6-13]
When Joseph recognized his brothers, although
they did not recognize him, he was reminded of the dreams he had
about them. He said to them: "You are spies. You have come to
see the nakedness of the land." "No, my lord," they
replied. "On the contrary, your servants have come to procure
food. All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your
servants have never been spies." But he answered them:
"Not so! You have come to see the nakedness of the
land." "We your servants," they said, "were
twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest
one is at present with our father, and the other one is
gone." "It is just as I said," Joseph persisted;
"you are spies. This is how you shall be tested: unless your
youngest brother comes here, I swear by the life of Pharaoh that
you shall not leave here. So send one of your number to get your
brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus shall
your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as
Pharaoh lives, you are spies!" With that, he locked them up
in the guardhouse for three days. On the third day Joseph said to
them: "Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing
man. If you have been honest, only one of your brothers need be
confined in this prison, while the rest of you may go and take
home provisions for your starving families. But you must come back
to me with your youngest brother. Your words will thus be
verified, and you will not die." To this they agreed. To one
another, however, they said: "Alas, we are being punished
because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he
pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed; that is why this anguish has
now come upon us." "Didn't I tell you," broke in
Reuben, "not to do wrong to the boy? But you wouldn't listen!
Now comes the reckoning for his blood." They did not know, of
course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with
them through an interpreter. But turning away from them, he wept.
When he was able to speak to them again, he had Simeon taken from
them and bound before their eyes. Then Joseph gave orders to have
their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each
one's sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After
this had been done for them, they loaded their donkeys with the
rations and departed. At the night encampment, when one of them
opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he was surprised to
see his money in the mouth of his bag. "My money has been
returned!" he cried out to his brothers. "Here it is in
my bag!" At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one
another, "What is this that God has done to us?" When
they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they
told him all that had happened to them. [GEN 42:8-29]
Moses, however, said to the LORD, "If you
please, LORD, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor
recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am
slow of speech and tongue." The LORD said to him, "Who
gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives
sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Go,
then! It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you
what you are to say." Yet he insisted, "If you please,
Lord, send someone else!" Then the LORD became angry with
Moses and said, "Have you not your brother, Aaron the Levite?
I know that he is an eloquent speaker. Besides, he is now on his
way to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will be glad. You are
to speak to him, then, and put the words in his mouth. I will
assist both you and him in speaking and will teach the two of you
what you are to do. He shall speak to the people for you: he shall
be your spokesman, and you shall be as God to him. Take this staff
in your hand; with it you are to perform the signs." [EX 4:10-17]
This is what the LORD then said to Moses: "Tell the Israelites to take up a collection for me. From every man you shall accept the contribution that his heart prompts him to give me."
[Taken from EX 25:1-2]
"Whenever Aaron enters the sanctuary, he will thus bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastpiece of decision over his heart as a constant reminder before the LORD. In this breastpiece of decision you shall put the Urim and Thummim, that they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus he shall always bear the decisions for the Israelites over his heart in the LORD'S presence."
[EX 28:29-30]
When the whole Israelite community left Moses'
presence, everyone, as his heart suggested and his spirit
prompted, brought a contribution to the LORD for the construction
of the meeting tent, for all its services, and for the sacred
vestments. Both the men and the women, all as their heart prompted
them, brought brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces and various
other gold articles. Everyone who could presented an offering of
gold to the LORD. [Taken from EX 35:20-22]
Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and all
the other experts whom the LORD had endowed with skill, men whose
hearts moved them to come and take part in the work. They received
from Moses all the contributions which the Israelites had brought
for establishing the service of the sanctuary. Still, morning
after morning the people continued to bring their voluntary
offerings to Moses. Thereupon the experts who were executing the
various kinds of work for the sanctuary, all left the work they
were doing, and told Moses, "The people are bringing much
more than is needed to carry out the work which the LORD has
commanded us to do." Moses, therefore, ordered a proclamation
to be made throughout the camp: "Let neither man nor woman
make any more contributions for the sanctuary." So the people
stopped bringing their offerings; there was already enough at
hand, in fact, more than enough, to complete the work to be done. [EX 36:2-7]
"You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."
[LEV 19:17-18]
"But if you do not heed me and do not keep
all these commandments, if you reject my precepts and spurn my
decrees, refusing to obey all my commandments and breaking my
covenant, then I, in turn, will give you your deserts. I will
punish you with terrible woes - with wasting and fever to dim the
eyes and sap the life. You will sow your seed in vain, for your
enemies will consume the crop. I will turn against you, till you
are beaten down before your enemies and lorded over by your foes.
You will take to flight though no one pursues you. If even after
this you do not obey me, I will increase the chastisement for your
sins sevenfold, to break your haughty confidence. I will make the
sky above you as hard as iron, and your soil as hard as bronze, so
that your strength will be spent in vain; your land will bear no
crops, and its trees no fruit. If then you become defiant in your
unwillingness to obey me, I will multiply my blows another
sevenfold, as your sins deserve... Those of you who survive in the
lands of their enemies I will make so fainthearted that, if leaves
rustle behind them, they will flee headlong, as if from the sword,
though no one pursues them; stumbling over one another as if to
escape a weapon, while no one is after them - so helpless will you
be to take a stand against your foes! You will be lost among the
Gentiles, swallowed up in your enemies' country. Those of you who
survive in the lands of their enemies will waste away for their
own and their fathers' guilt. Thus they will have to confess that
they and their fathers were guilty of having rebelled against me
and of having defied me, so that I, too, had to defy them and
bring them into their enemies' land. Then, when their
uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they make amends for their
guilt, I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with
Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham; and of the land, too, I will
be mindful. But the land must first be rid of them, that in its
desolation it may make up its lost sabbaths, and that they, too,
may make good the debt of their guilt for having spurned my
precepts and abhorred my statutes. Yet even so, even while they
are in their enemies' land, I will not reject or spurn them, lest,
by wiping them out, I make void my covenant with them; for I, the
LORD, am their God. I will remember them because of the covenant I
made with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of
Egypt under the very eyes of the Gentiles, that I, the LORD, might
be their God."
[LEV 26:14-21,36-45]
The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the
Israelites and tell them that they and their descendants must put
tassels on the corners of their garments, fastening each corner
tassel with a violet cord. When you use these tassels, let the
sight of them remind you to keep all the commandments of the LORD,
without going wantonly astray after the desires of your hearts and
eyes. Thus you will remember to keep all my commandments and be
holy to your God. I, the LORD, am your God who, as God, brought
you out of Egypt that I, the LORD, may be your God." [NUM
15:37-41]
'The LORD, your God, has given this land over to you. Go up and
occupy it, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, commands you. Do
not fear or lose heart.' [DEUT 1:21]
But Sihon, king of Heshbon, refused to let us pass through his
land, because the LORD, your God, made him stubborn in mind and
obstinate in heart that he might deliver him up to you, as indeed
he has now done. [DEUT 2:30]
Yet there too you shall seek the LORD, your God; and you shall
indeed find him when you search after him with your whole heart
and your whole soul. [DEUT 4:29]
"Ask now of the days of old, before your
time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end
of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before?
Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God
speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Or did any
god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of
another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, with
his strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of
which the LORD, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very
eyes? All this you were allowed to see that you might know the
LORD is God and there is no other. Out of the heavens he let you
hear his voice to discipline you; on earth he let you see his
great fire, and you heard him speaking out of the fire. For love
of your fathers he chose their descendants and personally led you
out of Egypt by his great power, driving out of your way nations
greater and mightier than you, so as to bring you in and to make
their land your heritage, as it is today. This is why you must now
know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens
above and on earth below, and that there is no other. You must
keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today,
that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may
have long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you
forever." [DEUT 4:32-40]
"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the
LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them
into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you
are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let
them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts
of your houses and on your gates." [DEUT
6:4-9]
For you are a people sacred to the LORD, your
God; he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the
earth to be a people peculiarly his own. It was not because you
are the largest of all nations that the LORD set his heart on you
and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations. It
was because the LORD loved you and because of his fidelity to the
oath he had sworn to your fathers, that he brought you out with
his strong hand from the place of slavery, and ransomed you from
the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Understand, then, that the
LORD, your God, is God indeed, the faithful God who keeps his
merciful covenant down to the thousandth generation toward those
who love him and keep his commandments, but who repays with
destruction the person who hates him; he does not dally with such
a one, but makes him personally pay for it. You shall therefore
carefully observe the commandments, the statutes and the decrees which I enjoin on you today.
[DEUT 7:6-11]
Be careful not to forget the LORD, your God, by
neglecting his commandments and decrees and statutes which I
enjoin on you today: lest, when you have eaten your fill, and have
built fine houses and lived in them, and have increased your herds
and flocks, your silver and gold, and all your property, you then
become haughty of heart and unmindful of the LORD, your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who
guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph
serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who
brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in
the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers, that he
might afflict you and test you, but also make you prosperous in
the end. Otherwise, you might say to yourselves, 'It is my own
power and the strength of my own hand that has obtained for me
this wealth.' Remember then, it is the LORD, your God, who gives
you the power to acquire wealth, by fulfilling, as he has now
done, the covenant which he swore to your fathers. But if you
forget the LORD, your God, and follow other gods, serving and
worshiping them, I forewarn you this day that you will perish
utterly. Like the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so
shall you too perish for not heeding the voice of the LORD, your God.
[DEUT 8:11-20]
No, it is not because of your merits or the integrity of your
heart that you are going in to take possession of their land; but
the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out before you on
account of their wickedness and in order to keep the promise which
he made on oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. [DEUT
9:5]
"And now, Israel, what does the LORD, your
God, ask of you but to fear the LORD, your God, and follow his
ways exactly, to love and serve the LORD, your God, with all your
heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and statutes of
the LORD which I enjoin on you today for your own good? Think! The
heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God,
as well as the earth and everything on it. Yet in his love for
your fathers the LORD was so attached to them as to choose you,
their descendants, in preference to all other peoples, as indeed
he has now done. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no
longer stiff-necked. For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods,
the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no
favorites, accepts no bribes; who executes justice for the orphan
and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.
So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens
yourselves in the land of Egypt. The LORD, your God, shall you
fear, and him shall you serve; hold fast to him and swear by his
name. He is your glory, he, your God, who has done for you those
great and terrible things which your own eyes have seen. Your
ancestors went down to Egypt seventy strong, and now the LORD,
your God, has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky." [DEUT 10:12-22]
"If, then, you truly heed my commandments
which I enjoin on you today, loving and serving the LORD, your
God, with all your heart and all your soul, I will give the
seasonal rain to your land, the early rain and the late rain, that
you may have your grain, wine and oil to gather in... But be
careful lest your heart be so lured away that you serve other gods
and worship them. For then the wrath of the LORD will flare up
against you and he will close up the heavens, so that no rain will
fall, and the soil will not yield its crops, and you will soon
perish from the good land he is giving you. Therefore, take these
words of mine into your heart and soul. Bind them at your wrist as
a sign, and let them be a pendant on your forehead. Teach them to
your children, speaking of them at home and abroad, whether you
are busy or at rest. And write them on the doorposts of your
houses and on your gates... For if you are careful to observe all
these commandments I enjoin on you, loving the LORD, your God, and
following his ways exactly, and holding fast to him, the LORD will
drive all these nations out of your way, and you will dispossess
nations greater and mightier than yourselves... None shall stand
up against you; the LORD, your God, will spread the fear and dread
of you through any land where you set foot, as he promised you. I
set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing
for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin
on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the
LORD, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you
today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known." [Taken from DEUT 11:13-14,16-20,22-23,25-28]
"If there arises among you a prophet or a
dreamer who promises you a sign or wonder, urging you to follow
other gods, whom you have not known, and to serve them: even
though the sign or wonder he has foretold you comes to pass, pay
no attention to the words of that prophet or that dreamer; for the
LORD, your God, is testing you to learn whether you really love
him with all your heart and with all your soul. The LORD, your
God, shall you follow, and him shall you fear; his commandment
shall you observe, and his voice shall you heed, serving him and
holding fast to him alone." [Taken from DEUT 13:2-5]
If one of your kinsmen in any community is in
need in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you
shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to him in his
need. Instead, you shall open your hand to him and freely lend him
enough to meet his need. Be on your guard lest, entertaining the
mean thought that the seventh year, the year of relaxation, is
near, you grudge help to your needy kinsman and give him nothing;
else he will cry to the LORD against you and you will be held
guilty. When you give to him, give freely and not with ill will;
for the LORD, your God, will bless you for this in all your works
and undertakings. The needy will never be lacking in the land;
that is why I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy
kinsman in your country. [DEUT
15:7-11]
"When a Levite goes from one of your communities anywhere in Israel in which he ordinarily resides, to visit, as his heart may desire, the place which the LORD chooses, he may minister there in the name of the LORD, his God, like all his fellow Levites who are in attendance there before the LORD."
[DEUT 18:6-7]
"This day the LORD, your God, commands you
to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to
observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you
are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and
you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments
and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is
making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly
his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his
commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and
glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a
people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised." [DEUT 26:16-19]
"If you are not careful to observe every
word of the law which is written in this book, and to revere the
glorious and awesome name of the LORD, your God, he will smite you
and your descendants with severe and constant blows, malignant and
lasting maladies. He will again afflict you with all the diseases
of Egypt which you dread, and they will persist among you. Should
there be any kind of sickness or calamity not mentioned in this
book of the law, that too the LORD will bring upon you until you
are destroyed. Of you who were numerous as the stars in the sky,
only a few will be left, because you would not hearken to the
voice of the LORD, your God. Just as the LORD once took delight in
making you grow and prosper, so will he now take delight in
ruining and destroying you, and you will be plucked out of the
land you are now entering to occupy. The LORD will scatter you
among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other, and
there you will serve strange gods of wood and stone, such as you
and your fathers have not known. Among these nations you will find
no repose, not a foot of ground to stand upon, for there the LORD
will give you an anguished heart and wasted eyes and a dismayed
spirit. You will live in constant suspense and stand in dread both
day and night, never sure of your existence. In the morning you
will say, 'Would that it were evening!' and in the evening you
will say, 'Would that it were morning!' for the dread that your
heart must feel and the sight that your eyes must see. The LORD
will send you back in galleys to Egypt, to the region I told you
that you were never to see again; and there you will offer
yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but
there will be no buyer." [DEUT 28:58-68]
"You know in what surroundings we lived in
the land of Egypt and what we passed by in the nations we
traversed, and you saw the loathsome idols of wood and stone, of
gold and silver, that they possess. Let there be, then, no man or
woman, no clan or tribe among you, who would now turn away their
hearts from the LORD, our God, to go and serve these pagan gods!
Let there be no root that would bear such poison and wormwood
among you. If any such person, upon hearing the words of this
curse, should beguile himself into thinking that he can safely
persist in his stubbornness of heart, as though to sweep away both
the watered soil and the parched ground, the LORD will never
consent to pardon him. Instead, the LORD'S wrath and jealousy will
flare up against that man, and every curse mentioned in this book
will alight on him. The LORD will blot out his name from under the
heavens and will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for
doom, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant inscribed in
this book of the law." [DEUT 29:15-20]
"When all these things which I have set
before you, the blessings and the curses, are fulfilled in you,
and from among whatever nations the LORD, your God, may have
dispersed you, you ponder them in your heart: then, provided that
you and your children return to the LORD, your God, and heed his
voice with all your heart and all your soul, just as I now command
you, the LORD, your God, will change your lot; and taking pity on
you, he will again gather you from all the nations wherein he has
scattered you. Though you may have been driven to the farthest
corner of the world, even from there will the LORD, your God,
gather you; even from there will he bring you back. The LORD, your
God, will then bring you into the land which your fathers once
occupied, that you too may occupy it, and he will make you more
prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The LORD, your God,
will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,
that you may love the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all
your soul, and so may live. But all those curses the LORD, your
God, will assign to your enemies and the foes who persecuted you.
You, however, must again heed the LORD'S voice and carry out all
his commandments which I now enjoin on you. Then the LORD, your
God, will increase in more than goodly measure the returns from
all your labors, the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your
livestock, and the produce of your soil; for the LORD, your God,
will again take delight in your prosperity, even as he took
delight in your fathers', if only you heed the voice of the LORD,
your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written
in this book of the law, when you return to the LORD, your God,
with all your heart and all your soul. For this command which I
enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It
is not up in the sky, that you should say, 'Who will go up in the
sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the
sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and
in your hearts; you have only to carry it out. Here, then, I have
today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you
obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you
today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his
commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow
numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you
are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and
will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other
gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not
have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to
enter and occupy. I call heaven and earth today to witness against
you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the
curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,
by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast
to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to
live on the land which the LORD swore he would give to your
fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." [DEUT 30:1-20]
When Moses had finished speaking all these words
to all Israel, he said, "Take to heart all the warning which
I have now given you and which you must impress on your children,
that you may carry out carefully every word of this law. For this
is no trivial matter for you; rather, it means your very life,
since it is by this means that you are to enjoy a long life on the
land which you will cross the Jordan to occupy." [DEUT 32:45-47]
But be very careful to observe the precept and law which Moses,
the servant of the LORD, enjoined upon you: love the LORD, your
God; follow him faithfully; keep his commandments; remain loyal to
him; and serve him with your whole heart and soul.
[JOSH 22:5]
"Today, as you see, I am going the way of
all men. So now acknowledge with your whole heart and soul that
not one of all the promises the LORD, your God, made to you has
remained unfulfilled. Every promise has been fulfilled for you,
with not one single exception. But just as every promise the LORD,
your God, made to you has been fulfilled for you, so will he
fulfill every threat, even so far as to exterminate you from this
good land which the LORD, your God, has given you. If you
transgress the covenant of the LORD, your God, which he enjoined
on you, serve other gods and worship them, the anger of the LORD
will flare up against you and you will quickly perish from the
good land which he has given you." [JOSH 23:14-16]
Joshua therefore said to the people, "You
are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the
LORD." They replied, "We are, indeed!" "Now,
therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you and turn
your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." Then the people
promised Joshua, "We will serve the LORD, our God, and obey
his voice." [JOSH 24:22-24]
My heart is with the leaders of
Israel, nobles of the people who bless the LORD; They who
ride on white asses, seated on saddlecloths as they go their
way; Sing of them to the strains of the harpers at the
wells, where men recount the just deeds of the LORD, his just
deeds that brought freedom to Israel. Awake, awake, Deborah!
awake, awake, strike up a song. Strength! arise, Barak, make
despoilers your spoil, son of Abinoam. Then down came the
fugitives with the mighty, the people of the LORD came down
for me as warriors. From Ephraim, princes were in the
valley; behind you was Benjamin, among your troops. From
Machir came down commanders, from Zebulun wielders of the
marshal's staff. With Deborah were the princes of
Issachar; Barak, too, was in the valley, his course
unchecked. Among the clans of Reuben great were the
searchings of heart. [Taken from JUDG 5:9-15]
Delilah said to Samson again, "Up to now
you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you may be
bound." He said to her, "If you weave my seven locks of
hair into the web and fasten them with the pin, I shall be as weak
as any other man." So while he slept, Delilah wove his seven
locks of hair into the web, and fastened them in with the pin.
Then she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!"
Awakening from his sleep, he pulled out both the weaver's pin and
the web. Then she said to him, "How can you say that you love
me when you do not confide in me? Three times already you have
mocked me, and not told me the secret of your great
strength!" She importuned him continually and vexed him with
her complaints till he was deathly weary of them. So he took her
completely into his confidence and told her, "No razor has
touched my head, for I have been consecrated to God from my
mother's womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I
shall be as weak as any other man." When Delilah saw that he
had taken her completely into his confidence, she summoned the
lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this time, for he
has opened his heart to me." So the lords of the Philistines
came and brought up the money with them. She had him sleep on her
lap, and called for a man who shaved off his seven locks of hair.
Then she began to mistreat him, for his strength had left him.
When she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!",
and he woke from his sleep, he thought he could make good his
escape as he had done time and again, for he did not realize that
the LORD had left him. [JUDG 16:13-20]
Boaz ate and drank to his heart's content. Then
when he went and lay down at the edge of the sheaves, she stole
up, uncovered a place at his feet, and lay down. In the middle of
the night, however, the man gave a start and turned around to find
a woman lying at his feet. He asked, "Who are you?" And
she replied, "I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of
your cloak over me, for you are my next of kin." He said,
"May the LORD bless you, my daughter! You have been even more
loyal now than before in not going after the young men, whether
poor or rich. So be assured, daughter, I will do for you whatever
you say; all my townspeople know you for a worthy woman." [Taken from RUTH 3:7-11]
"My heart exults in the LORD, my horn
is exalted in my God. I have swallowed up my enemies; I
rejoice in my victory. There is no Holy One like the
LORD; there in no Rock like our God." [Taken from 1SAM 2:1-2]
I will choose a faithful priest who shall do what I have in
heart and mind. I will establish a lasting house for him which
shall function in the presence of my anointed forever. [1SAM 2:35]
A Benjaminite fled from the battlefield and
reached Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and his head
covered with dirt. When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his chair
beside the gate, watching the road, for he was troubled at heart
about the ark of God. The man, however, went into the city to
divulge his news, which put the whole city in an uproar. Hearing
the outcry of the men standing near him, Eli inquired, "What
does this commotion mean?" (Eli was ninety-eight years old,
and his eyes would not focus, so that he could not see.) The man
quickly came up to Eli and said, "It is I who have come from
the battlefield; I fled from there today." He asked,
"What happened, my son?" And the messenger answered:
"Israel fled from the Philistines; in fact, the troops
suffered heavy losses. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are
among the dead, and the ark of God has been captured." At
this mention of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair
into the gateway; since he was an old man and heavy, he died of a
broken neck. He had judged Israel for forty years. [1SAM 4:12-18]
From the day the ark came to rest in
Kiriath-jearim a long time-twenty years-elapsed, and the whole
Israelite population turned to the LORD. Samuel said to them:
"If you wish with your whole heart to return to the LORD, put
away your foreign gods and your Ashtaroth, devote yourselves to
the LORD, and worship him alone. Then he will deliver you from the
power of the Philistines." So the Israelites put away their
Baals and Ashtaroth, and worshiped the LORD alone. [1SAM 7:2-4]
As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. [Taken
from 1SAM 10:9]
Saul also went home to Gibeah, accompanied by warriors whose
hearts the LORD had touched. [1SAM 10:26]
Samuel then called to the LORD, and the LORD
sent thunder and rain that day. As a result, all the people
dreaded the LORD and Samuel. They said to Samuel, "Pray to
the LORD your God for us, your servants, that we may not die for
having added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a
king." "Do not fear," Samuel answered them.
"It is true you have committed all this evil; still, you must
not turn from the LORD, but must worship him with your whole
heart. Do not turn to meaningless idols which can neither profit
nor save; they are nothing. For the sake of his own great name the
LORD will not abandon his people, since the LORD himself chose to
make you his people. As for me, far be it from me to sin against
the LORD by ceasing to pray for you and to teach you the good and
right way. But you must fear the LORD and worship him faithfully
with your whole heart; keep in mind the great things he has done
among you. If instead you continue to do evil, both you and your
king shall perish." [1SAM 12:18-25]
Samuel's response was: "You have been foolish! Had you kept the command the LORD your God gave you, the LORD would now establish your kingship in Israel as lasting; but as things are, your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and has appointed him commander of his people, because you broke the LORD'S command."
[1SAM 13:13-14]
As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought,
"Surely the LORD'S anointed is here before him." But the
LORD said to Samuel: "Do not judge from his appearance or
from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man
sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD
looks into the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab and
presented him before Samuel, who said, "The Lord has not
chosen him." Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said,
"The LORD has not chosen this one either." In the same
way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to
Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any one of these." Then
Samuel asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"
Jesse replied, "There is still the youngest, who is tending
the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send for him"...
Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the
midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the
LORD rushed upon David. When Samuel took his leave, he went to
Ramah. [Taken from 1SAM 16:6-11,13]
When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was dismayed and lost heart completely. He therefore consulted the LORD; but the LORD gave no answer, whether in dreams or by the Urim or through prophets.
[1SAM 28:5-6]
As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul's
daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David
leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her
heart. [2SAM 6:16]
For your servant's sake and as you have had at heart, you have
brought about this entire magnificent disclosure to your servant.
[Taken from 2SAM 7:21]
Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long
tunic in which she was clothed. Then, putting her hands to her
head, she went away crying loudly. Her brother Absalom said to
her: "Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be still now, my
sister; he is your brother. Do not take this affair to
heart." But Tamar remained grief-stricken and forlorn in the
house of her brother Absalom. King David, who got word of the
whole affair, became very angry. He did not, however, spark the
resentment of his son Amnon, whom he favored because he was his
first-born. Absalom, moreover, said nothing at all to Amnon,
although he hated him for having shamed his sister Tamar. [Taken from 2SAM 13:19-22]
Then even the brave man with the heart of a lion will lose
courage. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and
that those who are with him are brave. [Taken from 2SAM 17:10]
Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjaminite from
Bahurim, hurried down with the Judahites to meet King David,
accompanied by a thousand men from Benjamin. Ziba, too, the
servant of the house of Saul, accompanied by his fifteen sons and
twenty servants, hastened to the Jordan before the king. They
crossed over the ford to bring the king's household over and to do
whatever he wished. When Shimei, son of Gera, crossed the Jordan,
he fell down before the king and said to him: "May my lord
not hold me guilty, and may he not remember and take to heart the
wrong that your servant did the day my lord the king left
Jerusalem. For your servant knows that he has done wrong. Yet
realize that I have been the first of the whole house of Joseph to
come down today to meet my lord the king." [2SAM 19:17-21]
When the time of David's death drew near, he
gave these instructions to his son Solomon: "I am going the
way of all mankind. Take courage and be a man. Keep the mandate of
the LORD, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes,
commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law
of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you
turn, and the LORD may fulfill the promise he made on my behalf
when he said, 'If your sons so conduct themselves that they remain
faithful to me with their whole heart and with their whole soul,
you shall always have someone of your line on the throne of
Israel.'" [Taken from 1KGS 2:1-4]
When Solomon was informed that Shimei had gone
from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned, the king summoned Shimei
and said to him: "Did I not have you swear by the LORD to
your clear understanding of my warning that, if you left and went
anywhere else, you should die without fail? And you answered, 'I
accept and obey.' Why, then, have you not kept the oath of the
LORD and the command that I gave you?" And the king said to
Shimei: "You know in your heart the evil that you did to my
father David. Now the LORD requites you for your own wickedness.
But King Solomon shall be blessed, and David's throne shall endure
before the LORD forever." The king then gave the order to
Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead as he left. [1KGS 2:41-46]
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a
dream at night. God said, "Ask something of me and I will
give it to you." Solomon answered: "You have shown great
favor to your servant, my father David, because he behaved
faithfully toward you, with justice and an upright heart; and you
have continued this great favor toward him, even today, seating a
son of his on his throne. O LORD, my God, you have made me, your
servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth,
not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the
people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be
numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an
understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right
from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of
yours?" The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request.
So God said to him: "Because you have asked for this - not
for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of
your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is
right - I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and
understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now,
and after you there will come no one to equal you. In addition, I
give you what you have not asked for, such riches and glory that
among kings there is not your like. And if you follow me by
keeping my statutes and commandments, as your father David did, I
will give you a long life." [1KGS 3:5-14]
Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in
the presence of the whole community of Israel, and stretching
forth his hands toward heaven, he said, "LORD, God of Israel,
there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you
keep your covenant of kindness with your servants who are faithful
to you with their whole heart. You have kept the promise you made
to my father David, your servant. You who spoke that promise, have
this day, by your own power, brought it to fulfillment. Now,
therefore, LORD, God of Israel, keep the further promise you made
to my father David, your servant, saying, 'You shall always have
someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel,
provided only that your descendants look to their conduct so that
they live in my presence, as you have lived in my presence.'"
[Taken from 1KGS 8:22-25]
"If there is famine in the land or
pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or a locust swarm, or
devouring insects; if an enemy of your people besieges them in one
of their cities; whatever plague or sickness there may be, if then
any one (of your entire people Israel) has remorse of conscience
and offers some prayer or petition, stretching out his hands
toward this temple, listen from your heavenly dwelling place and
forgive. You who alone know the hearts of all men, render to each
one of them according to his conduct; knowing their hearts, so
treat them that they may fear you as long as they live on the land
you gave our fathers." [Taken from 1KGS 8:37-40]
When Solomon finished offering this entire
prayer of petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of
the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands outstretched
toward heaven. He stood and blessed the whole community of Israel,
saying in a loud voice: "Blessed be the LORD who has given
rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not a single word
has gone unfulfilled of the entire generous promise he made
through his servant Moses. May the LORD, our God, be with us as he
was with our fathers and may he not forsake us nor cast us off.
May he draw our hearts to himself, that we may follow him in
everything and keep the commands, statutes, and ordinances which
he enjoined on our fathers. May this prayer I have offered to the
LORD, our God, be present to him day and night, that he may uphold
the cause of his servant and of his people Israel as each day
requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know the LORD is
God and there is no other. You must be wholly devoted to the LORD,
our God, observing his statutes and keeping his commandments, as
on this day." [1KGS 8:54-61]
The LORD said to him: "I have heard the prayer of petition
which you offered in my presence. I have consecrated this temple
which you have built; I confer my name upon it forever, and my
eyes and my heart shall be there always." [Taken from 1KGS 9:3]
And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear from
him the wisdom which God had put in his heart. [1KGS 10:24]
King Solomon loved many foreign women besides
the daughter of Pharaoh (Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians,
and Hittites), from nations with which the LORD had forbidden the
Israelites to intermarry, "because," he said, "they
will turn your hearts to their gods." But Solomon fell in
love with them. He had seven hundred wives of princely rank and
three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart. When
Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the
heart of his father David had been... Solomon did evil in the
sight of the LORD; he did not follow him unreservedly as his
father David had done... The LORD, therefore, became angry with
Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God
of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (for though the LORD had
forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had
not obeyed him). So the LORD said to Solomon: "Since this is
what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes
which I enjoined on you, I will deprive you of the kingdom and
give it to your servant. I will not do this during your lifetime,
however, for the sake of your father David; it is your son whom I
will deprive. Nor will I take away the whole kingdom. I will leave
your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of
Jerusalem, which I have chosen." The LORD then raised up an
adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, who was of the royal line
in Edom. [Taken from 1KGS 11:1-4,6,9-14]
Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD, the
God of Israel, says: I exalted you from among the people and made
you ruler of my people Israel. I deprived the house of David of
the kingdom and gave it to you. Yet you have not been like my
servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with his
whole heart, doing only what pleased me. You have done worse than
all who preceded you: you have gone and made for yourself strange
gods and molten images to provoke me; but me you have cast behind
your back. Therefore, I am bringing evil upon the house of
Jeroboam' [Taken from 1KGS 14:7-10]
In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, son of
Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah; he reigned three years in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom. He
imitated all the sins his father had committed before him, and his
heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, like the heart of
his grandfather David. Yet for David's sake the LORD, his God,
gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and
permitting Jerusalem to endure; because David had pleased the LORD
and did not disobey any of his commands as long as he lived,
except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. [1KGS 15:1-5]
The high places did not disappear; yet Asa's heart was entirely
with the LORD as long as he lived. [1KGS 15:14]
Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the
LORD that they would follow him and observe his ordinances,
statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls, thus
reviving the terms of the covenant which were written in this
book. And all the people stood as participants in the covenant.
[2KGS 23:3]
Further, Josiah did away with the consultation
of ghosts and spirits, with the household gods, idols, and all the
other horrors to be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so
that he might carry out the stipulations of the law written in the
book that the priest Hilkiah had found in the temple of the LORD.
Before him there had been no king who turned to the LORD as he
did, with his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole strength,
in accord with the entire law of Moses; nor could any after him
compare with him. Yet, because of all the provocations that
Manasseh had given, the LORD did not desist from his fiercely
burning anger against Judah. The LORD said: "Even Judah will
I put out of my sight as I did Israel. I will reject this city,
Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, 'There
shall my name be.'" [2KGS 23:24-27]
But as the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the
City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked down from her
window, and when she saw King David leaping and dancing, she
despised him in her heart. [1CHRON 15:29]
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his
name; make known among the nations his deeds. Sing to him,
sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds. Glory in
his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD! Look to
the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. [Taken from 1CHRON 16:8-11]
David said to Solomon: "My son, it was my
purpose to build a house myself for the honor of the LORD, my God.
But this word of the LORD came to me: 'You have shed much blood,
and you have waged great wars. You may not build a house in my
honor, because you have shed too much blood upon the earth in my
sight. However, a son is to be born to you. He will be a peaceful
man, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side.
For Solomon shall be his name, and in his time I will bestow peace
and tranquility on Israel. It is he who shall build a house in my
honor; he shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him, and
I will establish the throne of his kingship over Israel forever.'
Now, my son, the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building
the house of the LORD your God, as he has said you shall. May the
LORD give you prudence and discernment when he brings you to rule
over Israel, so that you keep the law of the LORD, your God. Only
then shall you succeed, if you are careful to observe the precepts
and decrees which the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be brave and
steadfast; do not fear or lose heart." [Taken from 1CHRON 22:7-13]
David also commanded all of Israel's leaders to
help his son Solomon: "Is not the LORD your God with you? Has
he not given you rest on every side? Indeed, he has delivered the
occupants of the land into my power, and the land is subdued
before the LORD and his people. Therefore, devote your hearts and
souls to seeking the LORD your God. Proceed to build the sanctuary
of the LORD God, that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and
God's sacred vessels may be brought into the house built in honor
of the LORD."
[1CHRON 22:17-19]
"As for you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father
and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul, for the
LORD searches all hearts and understands all the mind's thoughts.
If you seek him, he will let himself be found by you; but if you
abandon him, he will cast you off forever." [Taken from
1CHRON 28:9]
"But who am I, and who are my people, that
we should have the means to contribute so freely? For everything
is from you, and we only give you what we have received from you.
For we stand before you as aliens: we are only your guests, like
all our fathers. Our life on earth is like a shadow that does not
abide. O LORD our God, all this wealth that we have brought
together to build you a house in honor of your holy name comes
from you and is entirely yours. I know, O my God, that you put
hearts to the test and that you take pleasure in uprightness. With
a sincere heart I have willingly given all these things, and now
with joy I have seen your people here present also giving to you
generously. O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
keep such thoughts in the hearts and minds of your people forever,
and direct their hearts toward you. Give to my son Solomon a
wholehearted desire to keep your commandments, precepts, and
statutes, that he may carry out all these plans and build the
castle for which I have made preparation." [Taken from 1CHRON 29:14-19]
On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people
back to their tents, rejoicing and glad at heart at the good
things the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for his
people Israel. [2CHRON 7:10]
And now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name
may be there forever; my eyes and my heart also shall be there
always. [Taken from 2CHRON 7:16]
They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD,
the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and
everyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be
put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. They
swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting and with
trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had
sworn with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire,
so that he was present to them. And the LORD gave them rest on
every side. [2CHRON 15:12-15]
All Judah was standing before the LORD, with
their little ones, their wives, and their young sons. And the
spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of
Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the clan of
Asaph, in the midst of the assembly, and he said: "Listen,
all of Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! The
LORD says to you: 'Do not fear or lose heart at the sight of this
vast multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. Go down
against them tomorrow. You will see them coming up by the ascent
of Ziz, and you will come upon them at the end of the wadi which
opens on the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not have to fight in
this encounter. Take your places, stand firm, and see how the LORD
will be with you to deliver you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear
or lose heart. Tomorrow go out to meet them, and the LORD will be
with you.'" Then Jehoshaphat knelt down with his face to the
ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down
before the LORD in worship. Levites from among the Kohathites and
Korahites rose to sing the praises of the LORD, the God of Israel,
in a resounding chorus. [2CHRON 20:13-19]
Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem.
His mother was named Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. He followed the path of his father Asa unswervingly, doing what was right in the LORD'S sight. But the high places were not removed, nor as yet had the people fixed their hearts on the God of their fathers.
[2CHRON 20:31-33]
Then he looked for Ahaziah himself. They caught him where he
was hiding in Samaria and brought him to Jehu, who put him to
death. They buried him, for they said, "He was the grandson
of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with his whole heart."
There remained in Ahaziah's house no one powerful enough to wield
the kingship. [2CHRON 22:9]
This same Hezekiah stopped the upper outflow of water from Gihon and led it underground westward to the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his undertakings. Nevertheless, in respect to the ambassadors (princes) sent to him from Babylon to investigate the sign that had occurred in the land, God forsook him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
[Taken from 2CHRON 32:30-31]
Standing at his post, the king made a covenant before the LORD
to follow the LORD and to keep his commandments, decrees, and
statutes with his whole heart and soul, thus observing the terms
of the covenant written in this book. [2CHRON 34:31]
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became
king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the
sight of the LORD, his God, and he did not humble himself before
the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the LORD. He also
rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by
God. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart rather than
return to the LORD, the God of Israel. Likewise all the princes of
Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity,
practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the
LORD'S temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. [2CHRON 36:11-14]
Ezra had set his heart on the study and practice of the law of
the LORD and on teaching statutes and ordinances in Israel. [EZRA
7:10]
In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King
Artaxerxes, when the wine was in my charge, I took some and
offered it to the king. As I had never before been sad in his
presence, the king asked me, "Why do you look sad? If you are
not sick, you must be sad at heart." Though I was seized with
great fear, I answered the king: "May the king live forever!
How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are
buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been eaten out by
fire?" [NEH 2:1-3]
"You, O LORD, are the God who chose Abram, who brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, and named him Abraham. When you had found his heart faithful in your sight, you made the covenant with him to give to him and his posterity the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites. These promises of yours you fulfilled, for you are just."
[NEH 9:7-8]
At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him to make all your
paths straight and to grant success to all your endeavors and
plans. For no pagan nation possesses good counsel, but the Lord
himself gives all good things. If the Lord chooses, he raises a
man up; but if he should decide otherwise, he casts him down to
the deepest recesses of the nether world. So now, my son, keep in
mind my commandments, and never let them be erased from your
heart. [TOBIT 4:19]
"Beg the Lord of heaven to show you mercy and grant you
deliverance. But do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you
before the world existed. You will save her, and she will go with
you. And I suppose that you will have children by her, who will
take the place of brothers for you. So do not worry." When
Tobiah heard Raphael say that she was his kinswoman, of his own
family's lineage, he fell deeply in love with her, and his heart
became set on her. [Taken from TOBIT 6:18]
"He scourged you for your
iniquities, but will again have mercy on you all. He
will gather you from all the Gentiles among whom you have
been scattered. When you turn back to him with all your heart, to
do what is right before him, Then he will turn back to
you, and no longer hide his face from you. So now
consider what he has done for you, and praise him with full
voice. Bless the Lord of righteousness, and exalt the King of
the ages. In the land of my exile I praise him, and show his
power and majesty to a sinful nation. Turn back, you sinners! do
the right before him: perhaps he may look with favor upon
you and show you mercy." [Taken from TOBIT 13:5-6]
"You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or grasp the
workings of the human mind; how then can you fathom God, who has
made all these things, discern his mind, and understand his plan?"
[Taken from JDTH 8:14]
"Therefore, my brothers, let us set an
example for our kinsmen. Their lives depend on us, and the defense
of the sanctuary, the temple, and the altar rests with us. Besides
all this, we should be grateful to the Lord our God, for putting
us to the test, as he did our forefathers. Recall how he dealt
with Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and all that happened to
Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia while he was tending the flocks of
Laban, his mother's brother. Not for vengeance did the Lord put
them in the crucible to try their hearts, nor has he done so with
us. It is by way of admonition that he chastises those who are
close to him." [Taken from JDTH 8:24-27]
Then Uzziah said to her: "All that you have said was spoken with good sense, and no one can gainsay your words. Not today only is your wisdom made evident, but from your earliest years all the people have recognized your prudence, which corresponds to the worthy dispositions of your heart."
[Taken from JDTH 8:28-29]
When the men heard her words and gazed upon her face, which appeared wondrously beautiful to them, they said to her, "By coming down thus promptly to see our master, you have saved your life. Now go to his tent; some of our men will accompany you to present you to him. When you stand before him, have no fear in your heart; give him the report you speak of, and he will treat you well."
[Taken from JDTH 10:14-16]
Then Judith came in and reclined on it. The heart of Holofernes
was in rapture over her, and his spirit was shaken. He was burning
with the desire to possess her, for he had been biding his time to
seduce her from the day he saw her. [JDTH 12:16]
"O Lord, do not relinquish your scepter to those that are nought. Let them not gloat over our ruin, but turn their own counsel against them and make an example of our chief enemy. Be mindful of us, O Lord. Manifest yourself in the time of our distress and give me courage, King of gods and Ruler of every power. Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy, so that he and those who are in league with him may perish."
[Taken from ESTH C:22-24]
On the third day, putting an end to her prayers,
she took off her penitential garments and arrayed herself in her
royal attire. In making her state appearance, after invoking the
all-seeing God and savior, she took with her two maids; on the one
she leaned gently for support, while the other followed her,
bearing her train. She glowed with the perfection of her beauty
and her countenance was as joyous as it was lovely, though her
heart was shrunk with fear. She passed through all the portals
till she stood face to face with the king, who was seated on his
royal throne, clothed in full robes of state, and covered with
gold and precious stones, so that he inspired great awe. As he
looked up, his features ablaze with the height of majestic anger,
the queen staggered, changed color, and leaned weakly against the
head of the maid in front of her. But God changed the king's anger
to gentleness. In great anxiety he sprang from his throne, held
her in his arms until she recovered, and comforted her with
reassuring words. "What is it, Esther?" he said to her.
"I am your brother. Take courage! You shall not die because
of this general decree of ours. Come near!" Raising the
golden scepter, he touched her neck with it, embraced her, and
said, "Speak to me." She replied: "I saw you, my
lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled with fear of
your majesty. For you are awesome, my lord, though your glance is
full of kindness." As she said this, she fainted. The king
became troubled and all his attendants tried to revive her. [ESTH D:1-16]
After Alexander the Macedonian, Philip's son,
who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the
Persians and Medes, he became king in his place, having first
ruled in Greece. He fought many campaigns, captured fortresses,
and put kings to death. He advanced to the ends of the earth,
gathering plunder from many nations; the earth fell silent before
him, and his heart became proud and arrogant. He collected a very
strong army and conquered provinces, nations, and rulers, and they
became his tributaries. But after all this he took to his bed,
realizing that he was going to die. He therefore summoned his
officers, the nobles, who had been brought up with him from his
youth, to divide his kingdom among them while he was still alive.
Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died. So his officers
took over his kingdom, each in his own territory, and after his
death they all put on royal crowns, and so did their sons after
them for many years, causing much distress over the earth. [1MACC 1:1-9]
But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean; they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel.
[1MACC 1:62-63]
When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was
moved and his just fury was aroused [Taken from 1MACC 2:24]
When the king heard this news, he was struck
with fear and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his
designs had failed, he took to his bed. There he remained many
days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die. So
he called in all his Friends and said to them: "Sleep has
departed from my eyes, for my heart is sinking with anxiety. I
said to myself: 'Into what tribulation have I come, and in what
floods of sorrow am I now! Yet I was kindly and beloved in my
rule.' But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I
carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it,
and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be
destroyed. I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me;
and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land." [1MACC 6:8-13]
This
topic continued on next page - Click here to view
more
alphabetical scripture | more
categorized scripture | top
|
